Bugs And Bark
by BroccolliJuice
Summary: Shino and Kiba. Best friends forever. But Shino is doubting Kiba's strength. Will he prove himself or will he fall trying?
1. Purple

**Shino**

"They're my friends Kiba!" The purple cloud of insects surges towards him, "And so are you!" They strike Akamaru and Kiba, my best friend. "Kiba!" Kurenai-sensei calls as he hits the wall of the Chuunin Exam Stadium, our special training place. I can feel her red eyes piercing through my back. She was wrong about Kiba being the strongest… I, Shino Aburame, am the strongest. Kiba limply struggles to his feet and Akamaru copies. "Come on Akamaru… lets get him!" He signals Fang over Fang jutsu. I prepare a paralyzing Insect Tornado as Kiba and Akamaru speed towards me. "Not quick enough…" The insects suck him up. "Release!" Kurenai-sensei yells before the tornado takes what life Kiba has left. His limp body falls to the ground, covered from head to toe in bruises and scratches. "You have grown strong Shino," He struggles for breath, "Very strong."

**Hinata**

Kiba is right, Shino has grown strong. He appears next to me, "Hinata," He glares at me with his gleaming purple eyes. Purple? "Your next." His calm yet fierce remark sending shivers up my spine. "B…b…but Shino"

"No buts about it Hinata." His calm nature nowhere to be found in his words. "No Shino, that's enough for today." Kurenai-sensei growls as she carries Kiba and Akamaru up the stairs. "Hinata, take Akamaru to Tsume and tell her Kiba will spend the night in the hospital. Shino, go home." He places his sunglasses where they should be and disappears in a cloud of insects… a purple cloud. Kurenai-sensei gently places Akamaru in my arms and continues on up the stairs. Purple?

**Shino**

Insects whiz past as my footsteps silently lay a new path through the forest. Weak, that's what he is, weak. "Shino!" The deep voice of my father calls. I freeze, here it comes, I wonder how loud it'll be this time. "Kurenai told me what happened. You could have killed him," His hand rests on my shoulder, "Well done son. You're getting stronger by the day." He's proud of me? "Father…"

"I'm proud of you Shino and so are they…" He trails off pointing at the swarm of insects in front of us. "You are a great ninja."

**Tsume**

"Who did this Hinata?" Akamaru's body glows as the healing pills take effect. "Sh… sh…" Typical. Now I see why Kiba calls her the nervous ninja.

"Aburame Shino did this."

"Kurenai-sensei…" Now she talks! "H… how is Kiba doing?"

"He is well. Just in need of some rest right now. Akamaru?" She stares me down.

"He also is well," I avert my eyes down to him, "He needs some rest, though I think he misses Kiba too much to do that right now."

"I shall take him to the hospital to rest with Kiba if that's ok?"

"Just be careful with him." Shino Aburame huh? Aburame…Aburame… Shibi!

**Shino**

"Eat up son; you need to replace what you lost." The steam coming off the ramen fogs up my glasses. As I pull them off my mind wanders back to what happened earlier. Hinata saw my eyes… no-one has seen them. If she saw them then Kiba and Kurenai-sensei probably saw them too. "Son? Something wrong?"

"Why do we hide our eyes father?" He lets out a deep breath. "Eat your ramen before it gets cold Shino." I do as I'm told. I wonder why…

**Hinata**

Neji, his father and my father train as I bring them tea. Why is it my job? Why can't I train too? "Just what we need, a nice steaming cup of tea." My uncle takes a sip of his tea. "Hinata!" That voice is not Hyugan. "Ahh Tsume, you wish to speak with my daughter?" Father abruptly grabs me by the shoulder. "Where might I find the Aburame residence?"

Aburame. Shino. Insects. Purple.

Purple…

**I hope you liked it!** Will update when the next chapter is done which shouldn't be too long! Review please!

**Note** I am not sure that Shino's eyes are actually purple but they are now.


	2. We Run

**Sorry it's taken a while.** Been having some problems with my computer but here it is! Chapter two of Bugs and Bark. Enjoy.

**--**

**Shino**

The dead leaves on the ground crunch under my feet as I walk down what could be called a path. The crickets chirp happily as the dragonflies buzz over the small pond that has developed. Their sweet song, the best kind of music to me. "Excuse me young man," A voice behind me approaches, "Where might I find the Aburame residence?" I hold out an arm, pointing in the general direction of the house I live in. It's not my home. My home is here, with the insects. When they are happy, so am I. I gaze at a butterfly emerging from its pupa. "I wonder who that was..."

**Kiba**

"G... good morning Kiba." I sit up to see Hinata at the end of my bed. "Hey there Hinata. Where's Aka..." Akamaru pounces on me, licking me like I'd been gone for a week. I laugh, "Akamaru!" I throw my arms around him. He's such a good dog. "Kiba, you're awake."

"Kurenai-sensei, where's Shino?"

"I sent him home. Don't you worry about him, just get some rest."  
"Ha. Fat chance. Come on Akamaru, let's go see Shino." I throw myself out of bed and Kurenai-sensei blocks the doorway. "You're not going anywhere near that boy untill you have healed."

"I want to see him... He's my best friend... Now move!"

"Kiba! Do you know who you're talking to?!"

"Fine. I'll just have to go out the other way." I turn and jump out of the window. Luckily my room was only on the second floor. "Come on boy!" Akamaru jumps after me, landing on my back. We run. Away from this place, away from her. We run. Towards him, towards friendship. We run.

**Shibi**

"Ahh Tsume. What can I do for you?" My greeting shocking her as she walks through the door of my home. "Your son, are you aware of what he did to my son?"

"All to aware Tsume."

"Then what have you done about it?" The attitude in her voice like poison rolling off her tongue. "What I have done about it is, quite frankly Tsume, none of your business."

"It's completely my business." She snaps, "My son could have died!"

"Ahh, but he didn't did he?"

"Shibi!" She growls. "Yes Tsume?"

"Your son needs punishing."

"Why? Because he is becoming a stronger ninja than your son is? I don't think that is reason enough for punishing and I don't, at all, like you soming into my home, telling me how I should care for my child! Get out before I throw you out."

"Fine." She storms out in that way all women do.

**Kiba**

"Quick Akamaru, we're almost there!" We keep running. The forest coming closer with every second that passes. I need to see him before they find me. I slide to a hault at the edge of the forest. That smell... mother? I hide behind a tree as the source of the smell passes by. What was she doing here? "Come on Akamaru, quietly." He nods as I whisper. We carry on quietly, trying not to disturb things, just how Shino likes us to. Akamaru stops in front of me and inspects the air with his nose. "Are we close boy?" I whisper. He resumes walking. "Kiba? What are you doing here?" Shinos voice asks but I can't see him anywhere. "I came to see you... To tell you that you have become so strong... and that, as a friend..."

**Shino**

"I'm proud of you, Shino." His words striking me right in the heart. Not only is my father proud but Kiba too. "I'm proud to say you are my best friend." I look down on him as he speaks. "My name is Kiba Inuzuka and my best friend is Shino Aburame!!" The branch shakes as others snap from the sheer velocity of his exclamation. I jump down next to him, "And I am Shino Aburame and my best friend is Kiba Inuzuka." He smiles and so do I, even though he doesn't see it he knows it. We hold each other, like we've done so many times before... like the time my favourite tree was cut down, we didn't care that everyone else saw it. We're to close for something like that to get to us. "Shouldn't you be in the hospital Kiba?"

"Kurenai said I couldn't see you so me and Akamaru left."

"Out the window?"

"Yep." We laugh. Typical Kiba, jump out the window. "KIBA!" Kurenai-sensei's call shakes everything around us. We let go of each other in shock. "Run?" He asks with a grin on his face.

**Kiba**

"Alright then." He replies. "Come on Akamaru." We run. Away from Konoha, away from her. We run. Towards our secret place, towards friendship. We run.

**Did you like it?** Please review. =D


	3. Sanctuary

**Shino**

The light beams down on us as we pass through a gap in the trees. The sun making my body feel weak. "Come on, we haven't got far to go." Kiba encourages me and Akamaru, though Akamaru seems to be in front of both of us. "Hey Kiba." I look over at him as we walk. "Yeah Shino?" He smiles. "Do you remember the first time we went to our special place?" He stops to think. "Yeah, it was just after we made gennin level, wasn't it?" I stop and let the wind breeze past to cool me of. "Yeah, that was it. We were so excited that we ran away." We laugh. Stories like the one of how we found our secret place are kept deep within our hearts. So special to us. Akamaru barks at something up ahead, his tail in between his legs. "What is it boy?" Kiba calls. If Akamaru could speak he would've replied 'enemies'. Kiba and I stare down three mist ninja. "Well what do we have here?" The one who I assume to be the leader asks as he measures us up with his cold black eyes. "Two little leaf gennin hah?" His comrades laugh. "What should we do with them boys?" His voice shattering glass in my mind. "Leave them!" A fourth figure appears from behind them. "They aren't what we're looking for." The green haired ninja walks past Kiba, completely ignoring Akamaru's growling. The mist ninja reluctantly obey. We watch them leave and just as they disappear out of sight Kiba drops to the floor and rolls around, laughing. "Kiba?" He continues to laugh. "What is so funny?" He picks himself up and attempts to calm down. "Did you see their faces when the other nin..." He begins laughing again. Such a strange boy, my best friend. We continue on to our secret place.

**Kurenai**

"Where is my son?!" Tsume yells down my ear for the fifth time and for the fifth time I respond, "I'm sorry Tsume, I don't know." Shibi bursts through the door. "You! Where is my son?!"  
"I'm sorry Tsume. Am I supposed to know? He's probably off somewhere with my son." Her face turns as red as her fangs at Shibi's statement. "Tsume..." I pull her away from Shibi, "I'm sure he's fine, just calm down."  
"Calm down Kurenai?! My son was nearly killed this morning and now he's run off with the boy who tried to kill him!! HOW THE HELL DO I CALM DOWN?!?!?!?!?!" Her screams shake the building. Flower pots are thrown to the ground and everything glass shatters in to millions of tiny pieces. How does Kiba live with this woman?

**Kiba**

We look up at the small hut in the trees, our sanctuary. Shino climbs up the rickety old ladder to check nothing is wrong with it. He signals and I climb up after him. Akamaru jumps on my back before it's too late. I step into the moss covered sanctuary we called home for almost two weeks. The memories come flooding back into my head. The plans we made for the future are still carved into the walls. "First become a chuunin, do lots of missions, become a jounin, start up an insect protection and dog caring company and help local dogs and protect as many insects as we can. We had big plans for ourselves didn't we?" Shino laughs after reading out or life plans. "We haven't even got the first one done yet." I sit down on a moss free piece of wood. "How great would it be to actually do this?" He gazes at me from behind his glasses. "It would be amazing." I smile. It truly would be amazing. I could help out all the dogs of the village and he could protect all the insects. "Hey look. Our blankets and pillows aren't covered in moss. So if we put one on top of the moss it should be ok for us to stay here over night." Shino lays a blanket on the floor and then places himself down on it. "Not too bad." He smirks. "Move over fat ass." I sit myself down next to him. The moss provides quite a squishy and soft under layer for us. I kick my sandals off and lay down on the blanket. Shino throws a pillow at my stomach. "Ooh." I pick it up and hit his back. "Hey, no fair." A pillow war begins.

**Tsume**

"Mum, don't do this. He'll be back soon enough, just calm down." Hana tries to talk me out of searching for my boy. "No, Hana. He's not safe. I'm not leaving him out there by himself with that devil child who tried to kill him."  
"They were just training mum."  
"Training or not your brother could have died. I'm going to set things right." I march out the door leaving Hana with the dogs. If Kurenai won't do anything, I will.

**Finish.**


	4. Danger

**Shino**

As the pillow war comes to an end I feel something I haven't felt in a while. I feel at home. Kiba lays next to me with Akamaru at his feet. My best friend, in our tree house, surrounded by bug infested forest. This is what home feels like. "Hey Shino,"  
"Yeah Kiba?"  
"Do you remember the first thing I said to you?"  
"Hey um, I like your... glasses." I laugh. "No... No I mean after that."  
"Um, yeah wasn't it, 'Let's be friends forever and always'?"I look at him as he smiles. "Yeah it was."  
"Well we're still friends and I don't plan on changing that any time soon."  
"Me neither." Akamaru barks, agreeing with us. We laugh. "Hey Kiba, the sun is going down." We get up and carefully make our way to the door and watch the sun go down through the gaps in the trees. "Just like we used to do, remember Shino?"  
"Yeah I do."

**Tsume**

Where could they be? 'Mum, don't do this. He'll be back soon enough, just calm down.' Hana's voice echoes in my mind. I stop as I come to a clearing. "Maybe it's time to get some rest." I pitch the tent and hope to the gods I will find my son the next day.

**Kiba**

Sun light beams in through the cracks and gaps in the wood. Lazily I rub my eyes and yawn. I look over at Shino who is still sleeping. "You haven't changed at all." Still sleep like a log. "Come on boy, let's get you a drink." I whisper quietly to Akamaru who jumps on my back as I leave the tree house. As I climb down the wind hits me with the stench of my mother. "Quick boy, let's get a drink and get back up there." I hurry down to the stream, worried she might find us now we're out in the forest. Please don't let her find us or find Shino before we get back to him. God only knows what she would do to him. The scent of her gets stronger as more wind blows. She's getting closer. Underneath her scent there is someone else, a few people actually. I can't quite figure out whom though. "Come on boy, we need to get back to Shino. We run towards the tree house, hoping that we make it before she does.

**Finish.** Sorry this one is shorter than usual but the next chapter will be huge! Not just in content but in events so dont worry, it will not disappoint.


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